Elric Galad

I would prefer the count too, and 100% graze to hit would work too. But it's always good to have backup plans.

You're right. The problem is mainly about discrepancies within a Tier. Druid Tier IX has heavy discrepancies between the Good, the Situational and the Bad (granted the difference between Bad and Extremely Situationnal can be thin, such as with Touch of Death). Druid Tier IX is basically a choice between Greater Maelstorm and Pollen Patch as you pointed (since you suggested buffing all 3 others !). However, when a spell is unique enough, it will still have some uses. That's a Single Player Game after all. A character doesn't have to feel the strongest, just the best at something. Being able to stop a wave of zombies with a Wall of Thorn is priceless, even if good old Relentless Storm or Embrace of the Earth Talon can be considered as overall better. That's why it is not only a problem of raw power, but also uniqueness.

Good to know Love's Reward seems fitting ! Or Get what you pay for maybe.

You're right, after thinking twice it's OK. Well, I think that my main problem is that it feels quite redundant with Venombloss, albeit less convenient. And it is on a Crowded Tier. And Poison effects are a bit situational considering how many foes are immune to it. Currently, I'm thinking about simply replacing Weakened by Immobilized (for 2s) and removing all references to Poison. The best thing is that it would feel like... you know... a Wall. This would give the spell a quite unique effect. There are many fights where foes keep coming, and this would allow to stop or slow the flood when foes get caught in the wall. I can see mylself casting it instead of Relentless Storm. Giving Entropy a Duration instead could solve this weirdness. What would you guys think about it ? EDIT : But I haven't check if the glitch can simply be corrected.

Well, maybe not calling it Ladyboy Special would help. There was already a Transgender sensitivity problem which happened during PoE1. But Fatigue would be fun too. Or non-affliction based stacking penalty to CON.

Wow this is great ! It really feels like a true item from the game (well, a bit easter eggish one but still) Excellent weapon for a Black Jacket (due to club modal and active effect purging effect) ! Slight stupid question : is the club animation realistic considering you are wearing a torch ? I mean, do people orient their torch toward ground ?

Then it's another story : - Megaboss 1 : Nothing special, having at least 1 priest (Single or Multiclassed) is heavily recommanded for Salvation of Time and Barring Death Door - Megaboss 2 : Nothing special, but having a Rogue with Gouging Strike is extremely helpful in my experience - Megaboss 3 : Some Interrupts or Summon greatly help. - Mgaeboss 4 : having at least 1 priest (Single or Multiclassed) is heavily recommanded Having at least a Cipher (Single or Multiclassed) with Ancestral Memory is recommanded. as a source of Brilliant. Some items can provide it, but not as reliably. This Cipher shall be a different character from the Priest. Also having a good source of Dispell is nice for a certain encounter. But following item may be sufficient : https://pillarsofeternity2.wiki.fextralife.com/Street+Sweeper

Are you targeting Megabosses ? Because that's the main difficulty which main require a couple of stuff when party-building.

Skald, Trickster, Wizard and Cipher are good basis for Spellblades.

When I initially started my analysis, I thought there would be much more creatures that require a lower scaling because of balance. Now when I look again at my list, it seems that there is not that many non-fully scaling summons. Full scaling seems to be possible without too much impact on balance, with only a handful of changes, as listed below : Chanter : Skeletons are a non-issue. No one would summon skeletons more often just because they get Exceptionnal Weapons instead of Fine. They are short duration anyway so it's not too much a problem. Ogres could be fully scaled too. I have redone their DPS calculation, and they will be Under Animated Weapons anyway. I still believe (upgraded) Wurms could be a problem. Their AR / DPS ratio is basically like if an Animated Warbow was wearing a Medium Armor (weapon is slightly better but recover slightly slower). Their base HP pool is far from being bad, they are Barbarian level, and they have +4 base AR compared to AW. So even if AW are overall a bit tankier, and their MIG/DEX adds up to their DPS,I think that the gap isn't big enough to justify x2 Phrase cost. Also Wurms have a better duration due to more benefit from PL. But a simple solution could be to reduce a bit their Duration, to Something like base 15s (so they will last less, even taking into account their lower PL), and let them have a Full Scaling. Priest : Incarnates come "already scaled" because they can be summoned only from level 19. I think it's not that confusing if some come with Legendary Equipment and some others such as Ryrmgand with just a very high base attack. Incarnate of Skaen stats should be tweaked a bit so that its base Attack match Legendary equipement. Druid : Sporelings aren't a big issue. Even Fully Scaled, they won't hit that hard. They could be slightly OP for a Tier I spell, but since it's a Subclass Feature and still inferior to higher Tier Summon, I think it's alright. Most of Call to the Primordials Ooze (Black, Magma and Adra) won't be OP with full scaling. However, Bog Ooze would be brutal, very high damages, 13 AR and 15 PR is better than any druid summon. This would also make the spell random, with 50% of summoning such a monster. So the easiest solution would be to cut Bog Ooze from the list of Summoned Oozes (EDIT : Or maybe replace it with a Lesser Bog Ooze ? Yes, this is technically feasible since the creature exists). Even scaling a bit more the other oozes would be OK in this case. I think this solution would be clearer than what I previously stated (and much more than how it is currently in-game).

(once again, sorry for the multiple post, but I think this one should be the last of the analysis) So now it's Chanter turn. One thing to keep in mind with Chanters is that all their summons share the exact same pool of ressources. So if each one has not a clear role, it will be completely useless (meanwhile a Druid may sometimes cast Lesser Blight only because it's his last Spell Tier with a Summon). Skeletons : Will scale at levels 9, 13, 17. They start as poor so they have "fine" weapons at level 20. Scaling will not apply to split skeletons (for some reasons, they benefit from difficulty level scaling, so not applying scaling is the best way to make sure they stay "lesser"). Role : Skeletons are here for their numbers. They're fine at it (and have much combo potential). Note : Scaling will not apply to "Many Lives..." phrase skeletons (because they don't scale anyway). Phantom : Will scale at levels 5, 9, 13, 17. Phantom upgrade duration : 25s -> 60s. Role : with such a duration, Phantom will be design as "summon and forget" for those chanters that don't like summons but still want an extra body. He's cheap, he stays for long so I think it's a good niche for him. Wurms : Will scale at levels 13, 17. Upgrade cost : 4 phrases -> 3 phrases (I have already aligned all chanter upgraded invocations with the cost of their original ability ; I want to keep this principle : an upgrade should be a strict upgrade, as for all other abilities / classes) Role : Wurms are cheap ranged brute force. If you look at the table, they have pretty good attack strength for their cost, especially when upgraded. So I don't want to "overscale" them. I don't want cheaper Ancient Weapons... ! 2 scaling is just enough to bring them to 11 PEN, which is kind of "default PEN" for level 20 weapons. Wisps : Will scale at levels 5, 9, 13, 17. Role : Wisps are utility-based summons and I think they are in a good spot for Interrupting / Distracting. Full scaling won't do much for their lowish attack but will at least bring them to 11 PEN. Ogres : Will scale at levels 9, 13, 17. Role : Tanks with damage dealing potential. With a bit of armor scaling, they will become tougher than Animated Weapons. Oh, and they have this wonderful 3 base Engagements. I want to make sure they don't reach Animated Weapon DPS potential. They have a slow attack rate (due to their recovery), so it's ok. However they will still do okay damages in melee with a bit of scaling (they needed PEN scaling to stay relevant). Drake : Will scale at levels 5, 9, 13, 17. Duration 25s -> 35s. To add : Ground Immunity, Fear Aura and Dex Resistance that all other drakes have (Dragon Summon gets an improved version of Fear Aura). 2 Knockdowns -> 3 1 Fire Breath -> 2 Role : Drake is on a weird spot : it is basically a lesser version of Dragon Summon, but is not that much cheaper. It comes alone (well till its death), but its barely OK stats don't really give him an edge over multiple summons (Ogres or Weapons for example). Its upgrade require it to die to be useful, which may not happen reliably. That's why I think it deserved a good buff. Stat-wise, first, with full scaling. I also added the classic resistances and fear aura of other Drakes. Even with this, I doubt that it matches the raw power of Ogres and Weapons, that's why I want to increase the number of uses of its AoE abilities, to give him an edge over them (especially Ogres who have a bit of AoE themselves). Even with all this, Drake remains a weaker dragon. That's why I wanted to emphasize its longer duration side since its the only logical edge he can get over a grown-up. The result, I hope, is a well-rounded summon who can tank a bit, attack a bit, have some AoE and utility, has an average summoning cost and last for a decent duration (but less than hey phantom). Dank Spore : Will scale at levels 5, 9, 13, 17. Duration 25s -> 35s. Role : Dank Spore is an utility summon, but still a bit weak since its charm ability has a long casting/recovery and its upgrade's stinky cloud can be tricky to use. Some scaling will help it a bit (the current version already scale in a weird way for some reason), as well as a slightly longer duration (which also help getting sure he stays long enough to be killed). Animated Weapons : Are currently already fully scaled. No change. Role : Summons so good I had to analyse all other summons to make sure they could be relevant in front of them. Great brute force with a bit of Prone attacks from Animated Pike. Dragon : Will scale at levels 5, 9, 13, 17 (well, it will be fully scaled at level 19 when you get it) In addition to scaling, I'm going to change Dragon stats because they currently don't make sense, with a bottomless pit of health but lower AR and attack than the drake ! - Armor 7->10(+4 from scaling) with resistance to Fire and Slash and vulnerability to pierce. (Based on the (scaled) version of the Drake, +1 AR) - Health 200 + 50/level -> 100 + 30/level - Attack : 16-22 CRU/PIER, 7 PEN, normal attack speed -> 20-26 CRU/PIER, 9 PEN, fast attack (+scaling) (this is based on the drake attack, but slightly improved) Role : the ultimate summon, but not the best at everything. Its defense will be good, and HP the best, but multiple summons could still have more total HP and AR is not significant vs everything in PotD upscaled. The Dragon is mostly about AoE. It is also good at tanking but it has a rather low duration (less benefit from PL). I don't think improving its auto-attack is that significant because the dragon should mostly use its special attacks. But a 7 PEN attack was not noble enough for this creature. Its fear Aura also brings a bit of utility.

OK, so as for Sun & Moon, it should have separate effect for night & day. <Brainstorming on> By Night, Night Club has a chance to Charm Target on hit (vs Will, so good Synergy with the Modal). Can be improved with Dominatrix upgrades that upgrades Charmed to Dominated. By Day, Night Club has "Clean up the Mess" mod that cause -5s Hostile effect when hitting allies. Can be improved with "Secret Reveler" to 10s. Has mod Drug Dealer that causes one of the drug effect on target (Ally or foe) for short duration... that causes a crash when wear off. Has mod Hard Beat that has a chance to cause a lasting effect that Interrupt target every 3s. Mutual exclusiveness to be debated. <Brainstorming off>

I think this weapon could have a great potenial as a on a Beguiler. Granted you need to be either multiclassed with a druid or with a druid in your party (or maybe... scrolls ?), but the effect of +2 PL would be pretty great with your Deception Spell refund and your Cipher spells in general. Disintigrate also benefit a lot from PL. It's almost like being ascended all the time. You would need another backup weapon for sure. Maybe with a Fighter Multiclass for Quickswitch (and general fighter goodness) ?

As I said yesterday, I wasn't fully convinced because of 2 issues : - Inequal summons. Multiple summons just feels better. Just too much. - Risk of making priest into top tier summon spammers, which they aren't meant to be. The PL malus was the limitating factor for Incarnate, so they could only spam Spiritual Ally without backfire. So I'm going to address this the following way : Change -5 PL malus for 30s into stacking -1 PL malus for 300s (instead of -2 PL for 30s) EDIT : mmm 180s will be enough. This is supposed to make using Incarnate once not too bad, but using it several times in a row (especially thanks to Brilliant) more punishing. I could have made it last the whole battle, but I wanted to leave hope for Megaboss encounters, especially for a High Resolve build. 300s will not stop at the end of the fight, because I wanted to make the stacking malus relevant even if Brilliant is not used (at least for for vibe, the player can still way for the effect to wear off). Incarnate really felt like a "last resort" ability, not something one should use everytime, and I wanted to keep this feeling. Note that is also meant to mitigate the inequality between Subclasses' Incarnate. Use Incarnate Tiers to compensate for Subclasses Tiers There are 3 Priests subclasses Tiers for me (and Thelee's Gamefaqs is more or less aligned with it), leaving Woedica apart from the debate because no Incarnate and Gaun and Rymrgand too because their incarnate are good enough and pre-determined Companions can be a litte stronger : - Tier A : Wael and Skaen because they bring completely new abilities the class. - Tier B : Berath and Magran, cause they bring many abilities, but not as "new" as the other (other damages spells aren't exactly new compare to Invisibility or Defense self-buffs) - Tier C : Eothas, cause he only brings his symbol and Sunbeam. Eothas still okay for MC cause it saves a lots of ability points for "classic" priest abilities, which is relevant in this case, but is very meh for SC. Incarnates are currently the following tier : - Tier A : Eothas (3 almost always better than 1) - Tier B : Berath (2 almost always better than 1 and worse than 3) - Tier C : Magran, Wael and Skaen. So I came to the conclusion that Magran's Incarnate can be buffed to match the power of Berath's pair. With Magran on Tier B, we will have a perfect mirror of Subclass Tiers. Magran's Incarnate is going to be a Defensive Juggernaut, Impervious to Hostile effect with a level of attack comparable to Skaen (but without Sneak Attack, so Skaen would still be better at pure damage dealing). I will set its CON to 25 (nearly as much HP as Skaen's), RES to 25 (-45% Hostile effect duration, feel free to add an Inspiration on top of that). Armor would be changed to 14 AR without weakness apart Cold and its Recovery would be lowered from +67% to +34% (this value comes from a Fighter with Armored Grace wearing a heavy armor. This is suitable for Magran who is an Armored Garce, pardon my French)

Oh my bad, too fast reading... My vote for purple

Well, there is already this (even if technically not a torch) : https://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/St._Drogga's_Skull

Thank you for believing ! I'm not that confident myself, especially about the 2 multi summons, Berath and Eothas, which were already pretty good. For Magran, Skaen and Wael, I'm about sure it won't break the game.

It comes from here : https://baldursgate.fandom.com/wiki/Night_Club But I have not been thinking about stats that much. Also I love club modal but I don't love that much the current Unique Ones, so...

Oh yes I want a Night Club !

What I intend to do for Priests (sorry for the multiple posting but I write this when I have time) : Spirtual Ally :Will scale at levels 5, 9, 13, 17 (Mace, Armor & Shields) Tune down duration to 25s because scaling weapons make him much better at high level and it was already a decent summon. In practice, Spiritual Ally seldom dies in battle so lower duration will makes it last less. It will poke much harder, but it will not change his non-weapon abilities (heal & corrode cone). Incarnates : First, I will lower the PL penalty to -2 PL because it makes the ability a bit too committing to use. I will also lower the duration to 30s since it was affected by PL malus to compensate. Now for specific Incarnates, they are mostly buffed (bar Rymrgand's), but I think they will not exceed the level of quality expected from a Tier IX Spell, especially considering you don't directly control them and get a PL malus : - Eothas : Equipment set to Legendary Quality. Note that this is basically the same as Full scaling since Incarnate is a spell you get at level 19, after the last scaling. Eothas trio is arguably the strongest incarnate, but since SC Eothas priest are also the ones that get the less non-priest bonus spells, I would say this is legit. - Berath : Equipment set to Legendary Quality too (including Pallid Knight armor which was basic : she had no more armor than the Usher...). Pallid Knight & Usher would be indeed a strong duo. - Magran : Weapon set to Legendary Quality, armor upgraded to Rathun Lord quality (+2AR). - Skaen : get 2 scaling bonus (+2 PEN, + 8 Acc, +30% damages with weapons, +2 AR). Skaen felt a tad weak, especially PEN / AR, so I think this will fit. - Wael : get 4 scaling bonus (+4 PEN, + 16 Acc, +60% damages with weapons, +4 AR). Wael's Incarnate is basically a greater blight with better stats but without greater blight ultimate ability (it is limited to normal blight's ones). I will also give him +10 CON so its health pool is more in line with other Single Incarnate. I will also add +5 DEX, +5 PER : since Wael is only auto-attacking it is good to make it at least good at that ! - Rymrgand : No changes to this monster.

Well, I'm not judging a person here, but a fantasy game character. My main grudge is about why they made her so bitter in PoE2, while she looked prouder in PoE1 even if she was already distant and unhappy about her condition. Vatnir seems to carry more nuances, even if he is even angrier.

Agree on that. But the fleshing was not great IMHO. Technically, they did. Godlikes are strongly suggested to be created by gods. At this point in her life, she even doesn't have many problems, apart for being sterile and not being able to wear helmet. Some may find her weird, but some others will basically look up to her special status. It's not like she was a Godlike of Ryrmgand for example. And Vatnir clearly doesn't complain as much. In spite of his cowardice, he seems better at looking at the bright side and coping with his condition... Durance has a least a style.

My first Playthrough included Pallegina, and I really disliked her. She was not like this in PoE1, not that much at least. And it was so annoying to avoid messing with the Valians because of her. Eventually I sided with the Rautais, and I had to face her as "Final Boss". Haha, good fun !

As a rule of Thumb, Under-utilized weapons are mostly due to bad Unique ones. Some weapons with meh Modal still get used in spite of that (sabers' modal is meh for example) Small shields are nice because of no accuracy malus. Weyc's shield is nice when paired with Empowering Equipment such as Sasha's Scimitar or Weyc's wand. Self-damaging modal is nice for glass cannonish playstyle and synergizes extremely well with Monks.

Thx ! This is not what I meant. I wondered if Pollen Patch effect ([Plant]) from another team member or yourself is active, does it activate +2 ALL PL from the Lance ? Anyway, you a druid in your paty is enough. +2 All PL can have so many uses...